As the title said, the editor just talked to me and decided the premium release would be this Friday.
Tragic. I just said in the comments yesterday that it would go premium on the 17th, and today it changed.
The bad news was that the massive update on release day might be gone.
The good news was that I had to update ten chapters before Friday.
Guess the massive update had been moved up.
Yeah, the word count was about there too, enough for 100. I'd save the rest for the release note.
Flame Willow's Weakness?
Before Hound of Disaster entered its second phase, Flame Willow had remained quite optimistic. She had even been able to make a Gojo Satoru joke.
However, once Hound of Disaster got its second life, she immediately realized something was wrong.
The flames produced by activating Honkai Energy with her own power had barely any effect on Hound of Disaster. Of course, the two of them had expected this. This wasn't a game, after all. As a creature that fought with fire, it was normal for Hound of Disaster to have high fire resistance.
But Flame Willow hadn't expected her activation ability to have so little effect on Hound of Disaster either.
After the two of them leisurely broke through Hound of Disaster's first phase, Flame Willow took advantage of its transformation into the second phase and rushed right in front of it. She planned to tank the post-transformation Flame Blast, then use activation to send it flying.
But the moment she injected the activation power, Flame Willow realized something was off.
Hadn't this Hound of Disaster just transformed and charged up once? Why was it charging again?
Then she heard Xia Ling shouting from afar.
"Get out of the way! Why is this monster using its ultimate right after entering Continuous Burning?"
Only then did Flame Willow snap back to her senses and hurriedly retreat, but she was still blown away by the blast wave.
Yet what came next was even more outrageous.
"What?" Xia Ling, who had hidden far away for fear of being killed by the aftershock, looked utterly dumbfounded. "Hound of Disaster already finished launching its nuclear blast. Why hasn't it exited Continuous Burning yet?"
Captains who regularly farm Elysian Realm should know that after Hound of Disaster's first phase ended, it revived, charged up, unleashed a Flame Blast, and then entered the Continuous Burning state.
After remaining in that state for a while, if the Ice Accumulation gauge was not full, it would begin charging again before releasing a multi-hit area attack. People generally called that a nuclear blast.
After the nuclear blast, Hound of Disaster would exit Continuous Burning, creating a great chance to deal damage.
Of course, not many people ever got that far. It was usually killed instantly.
"Did that activation I used just give it a buff?" Flame Willow was closer, and her expression changed. She hurriedly focused her senses, only to discover that was indeed the case.
For living creatures, Flame Willow's activation caused rapid metabolism to produce uncontrollable excess energy, making energy control collapse and triggering combustion and explosions.
But for Hound of Disaster, combustion and explosions naturally did little damage, while the excessive energy production caused it to repeatedly enter Continuous Burning.
In other words, the only even remotely negative effect left was the accelerated metabolism.
"Don't panic. I can feel it—Hound of Disaster's cellular activity is dropping rapidly. Its potential is nearly drained dry!"
Flame Willow dodged another claw strike descending from the sky. "We just need to hold out for a while longer. Soon, it'll wear itself to death!"
"How long is 'a while'?" Xia Ling shouted.
"One minute at most! I'm already pushing my power at full force. If I overdo it, I'm afraid it'll just explode!" Flames surged around Flame Willow's body. She was clearly using her ability at high load as well.
In the end, with a furious roar, Hound of Disaster's body collapsed to the ground.
"I've never felt that Hound of Disaster was this hard to fight."
They had barely defeated Hound of Disaster before the timer ran out. Watching it dissolve into points of light, Flame Willow caught her breath and gritted her teeth.
"It's fine. At least the outcome was good." Xia Ling was equally exhausted and sat directly on a section of broken wall. "At least your weakness was exposed in the trial space instead of a real battle outside. Otherwise, you would've suffered a huge loss sooner or later."
Before she had even finished speaking, Xia Ling's body gradually began to turn translucent.
"Ah, my support time is up." Xia Ling looked down at her slowly fading body and smiled. "I'm going back to enjoy Elysia's embrace. Good luck."
Flame Willow rolled her eyes. "Go on, go on. Remember to turn on shared senses."
After watching Xia Ling disappear as though returning to the Hall of Heroes, Flame Willow looked at the three portals slowly appearing before her.
This set of portals was rather strange: one red, one purple, and one blue. The red still represented battle, the blue was the Safe Corner, and the purple...
"Data Turbulence?"
Back in the Elysian Realm reception room, Xia Ling, who had just sat down beside Elysia, fell into confusion.
"Although I don't know what kind of node this is, I'm blindly guessing that you modified it based on Thorn Path."
"Plus one."
Ah... that was indeed the case. You can consider it a variant of Thorn Path.
However, there was one difference. After entering Data Turbulence, the next three nodes would be replaced with turbulence nodes. You would most likely not encounter combat there, but you might encounter many unexpected scenarios.
"Uh, unexpected? Just how unexpected?"
The inspiration came from the Summer Event and Golden Courtyard.
"Okay, now I know just how unexpected it is."
Xia Ling spoke to Flame Willow in the channel with a pained expression. "Hope everyone's okay."
"The amusement in your voice is practically overflowing..." Flame Willow sighed helplessly and stepped into the portal. "Let's see what this is about."
At the same time, Elysia and Xia Ling, their curiosity piqued, both turned to look at the screen.
Data Turbulence Amid a torrent of data, you were swept into an unknown place. It might have originated from an Elite's fantasy or memories, or perhaps from a parallel world observed by Su. In any case, this area was very abnormal. You explored ahead until you arrived at a castle forged from ice. Beneath a throne constructed of solid ice, you saw a cold white-haired man. He sat solemnly upon the throne, looking down at you from above. The white-haired man's imposing aura, along with the chill of the surroundings, enveloped you, making you shiver. The man on the throne seemingly had no intention of speaking. So, how would you begin? Ask the man where this place is. (Obtain Collectible—Route Map) Ask the man why he is sitting here. (Obtain one-time Kevin Support Item) Tell him that you are nervous and afraid. (Obtain a cold joke, with an additional chance of obtaining Kevin's Complete Collection of Cold Jokes)
After reading this absurd node description, Elysia felt the corner of her mouth twitch. The familiar sight before her reminded her of a movie she had once asked everyone to make together.
(Hehe, Kevin, Kevin. Who would've thought that despite looking so icy and aloof on the surface, you would privately preserve data like this? Sure enough, you're still the same Kevin you used to be. You've never changed, have you?)
"Cool~" Halfway through reading it, Xia Ling felt as though the temperature in the reception room had dropped. "System, you really know how to make trouble. Thumbs up."
"So if you pick the last one, Kevin will comfort you?"
That's right. And after comforting you, Kevin would be too embarrassed to admit that he was only stuck to the ice. If you discovered it yourself and helped him, you would receive a complete collection of cold jokes.
"That makes me want a copy too."
(Exactly, exactly! Miss Fairy wants one too. Boohoo, why can't this body of mine speak whenever it wants?~)
(But since the system's copied data has something like this, Kevin must have it too, right? Hehe, I'll ask him with Feather Dust later.)
I'll Be Cool~
Meanwhile, in the node, Flame Willow had already begun speaking with Kevin.
"Sir... big brother? Why... are you sitting here?"
Although she already knew the answer, Flame Willow still put on a serious expression as she questioned Kevin.
As for why... fun fact: the system's trials could be recorded from beginning to end.
"..."
"Because I cannot leave this place."
Kevin sat on the ice throne, his voice as solemn as ever.
"Could it be... that you're sitting here to maintain some strange seal? Like a monster that would devour the entire continent if released?"
Flame Willow leaned back tactically, putting on a surprised expression.
Kevin's mouth twitched as he said quietly:
"I'm stuck..."
"Huh?"
"My back, elbows, and... anyway, all of me is stuck."
Sure enough, Kevin and the ice throne were seamlessly joined together, as though they were one whole.
Seeing the stunned look on the girl's face, Kevin seemed somewhat embarrassed as well.
"I'd appreciate your help..."
Under Flame Willow's careful control, a tiny flame melted the layer of ice between Kevin and the ice throne. Thankfully, this time she did not cook Kevin like in the Summer Event.
"Thank you..." When he wasn't telling cold jokes, Kevin was as sparing with words as usual.
"Why... did you sit on it?" Flame Willow simply could not understand.
"Because it was there."
Kevin paused, then added, "Don't you think that size fits my build perfectly?"
"You're absolutely the kind of person who sees a railing and can't resist sticking their head through the gap, only to get it through and then be unable to pull it back out, leaving yourself trapped, aren't you?" After a long while, Flame Willow delivered the precise jab.
"Anyway, thank you. Consider this a token of my gratitude."
Perhaps Flame Willow's jab had struck him hard. Kevin was silent for a moment, then took a blue crystal petal from his pocket.
"A good friend gave this to me. It seems to be useful here."
He quickly stuffed the item representing Kevin's support into Flame Willow's hand, then immediately bid her farewell and fled as though escaping. He seemed to have been badly shaken by Flame Willow's teasing.
(Oh my, Kevin really is a shy boy after all. And isn't this... the 'key' I gave Kevin back then?)
(But this seems to be only part of it. What did the light screen call it just now? Kevin's support item? This thing can do that too?)
"I really wonder what would happen if we showed these recordings to the people of World Serpent."
Watching Kevin's hurriedly departing figure, Flame Willow could not help finding it amusing.
"Better not." Xia Ling imitated Kevin's voice with Elysia's tone in the channel. "I'll be cool~"
"Hahahahaha! That pun should be included in Kevin's Complete Collection of Cold Jokes too."
For a moment, the trial was filled with a cheerful atmosphere.
As Kevin's figure vanished completely, a new portal emerged within the node.
Data Turbulence nodes were relatively fixed, with no room for choice. After each node was cleared, only one portal appeared.
Flame Willow entered the portal with practiced ease, but this time, the scene was set within a city.
Flame Willow looked around and quickly found the event target in this node.
Or rather, even calling it "finding" was somewhat excessive, because waves of hearty, unrestrained laughter had already reached her ears.
"Ha ha ha ha! Can you feel this blazing fury?"
"Burn to ashes in this fierce scorching and vanish without a trace!"
"Weep for your weakness and stupidity! Regret ever appearing before me and standing in my way!"
"Ha ha ha ha ha—"
"Damn, that was straight-up the original lines." Flame Willow nearly lost her footing.
Data Turbulence Amid a torrent of data, you were swept into an unknown place. It might have originated from an Elite's fantasy or memories, or perhaps from a parallel world observed by Su. In any case, this area was very abnormal. At present, you had arrived before what looked like an extremely popular open-air barbecue stall. Although the owner looked wild and unruly, like someone difficult to approach, the crowd packed before the stall clearly showed that this barbecue master's cooking was good enough for people to overlook his minor personality flaws. So, what would you do in the face of this barbecue stall? Line up and get some barbecue. (Obtain Master Chien's Special Barbecue, which can increase your physical strength but may result in unknown consequences) Set up a stall and compete with Master Chien for customers. No thanks, I don't like barbecue.
"If I weren't so bad at barbecue, I'd actually really want to try option two."
Before you continue